A/N - Did I forget to post this on Friday? Nope! I just got stuck on what to call this chapter, and got distracted. Plus, puppy exhaustion is real. I forgot how much work they are compared to an old pup.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter! I still plan on having the next one out this Friday-ish.
RE:Script
Episode One: Hargeon
By Genavere
Chapter Three
A draft of air sent goosebumps over bared skin. She shivered. A metallic rattling pulled her from the grips of unconsciousness with a groan. The air carried a wet chill that dug into her bones, and made her wish for a fire or blanket. Even a shawl would be nice, she thought.
The clanking pulled her the last steps towards reality, and she pried an eye open with a disgruntled grimace. Darkness shifted with each blink, her vision slowly clearing and adjusting to take in more light.
Confusion set an urgency and she straightened to take in her full surroundings.
Metal bars stood tall in front, and three more around her in a form of a cage. It reminded her of a cage prisoners would be kept in. Above her, manacles wrapped around her wrists and connected to a chain that looped around several bars further up. Agitated, she tugged at the chains and felt the metal bands bit painfully into her skin until she let up.
She tried to clear the tears and haze from her head. Everything felt so heavy. Her joints ached. It felt like she had been there for hours. A tightness pulled at her jaw, and slowly opened her mouth until it popped back into place.
A choked, wet sob caught just above her chest. It hurt. Even after a day of hard work, she had never felt this defeated.
Pain shot through her spine and the muscles in her neck. A wince and groan followed until she let her head lull forward again. "Count to ten," she whispered barely on a breath as everything around spun in different directions all at once. With slow, deep breaths, she managed to calm the dizziness and not throw up.
Opening her eyes, the paleness of her breasts and the bluish tint of her thighs stood out compared to the metallic, honeycomb floor. That did not surprise her, her body barely saw the sun, even on sweltering days that tried to be the end of her. Being covered in rags had kept her identity safe, a small miracle.
Realization struck her, and gasping for air, she pulled herself up by the chains and struggled to get her legs under her. Prickling needles stabbed into sleeping muscles and tears gathered on her lashes. It might have been a mistake to force her legs to stand on their own power. Each step forward felt like they would crumple inward and that she was a newborn learning to walk.
Gripping the chains above her, clanking metal against metal, she stared down at herself. Disbelief, shock, horror—it all battled inside her. Saliva flooded her mouth. Swallowing it down, she took in several deep gulps of air, counting up from one until the nausea passed.
Where were her clothes? Who had undressed her? Standing in what she could only assume was a cage in only her tank top and a pair of panties would never end well. She knew how depraved people could be. What desperation and hunger could force decent men into foul monsters that took what they wanted. She had grown up with men like that most of her life.
There had to be a way out.
Planting her feet on the cold metal, she wrapped the chains around her forearms to help keep herself up as she began looking around. A cage had been a proper assessment of her surroundings. Four walls and a top with bars large enough for her to peer out of and even reach through with an arm, but not enough for her to squeeze through.
The floor as she had noticed earlier was metal and honeycombed that opened to the floor. Probably to wash those captive easier, she reasoned. Beneath the cage, though the floor and along the outskirts of it, there seemed to be a magic seal made from a simple rune—one to keep the cage locked to the ground. That meant no matter how hard she shook the cage, or if anything else tried to knock it over, it would remain standing until the seal lifted.
No water, food, or even a bucket for her to relieve herself joined the small cell she found herself in. Only the chains wrapped around her arms shared the space, and they were not long enough for her to even lay down with. Whoever brought her there had to have taken her clothes with them.
Her eyes widened and panic seized her lungs. "M-my keys…! Where are my keys!?"
"They are safe, I assure you," a voice answered her, rumbling with amusement. Her head snapped up and peered through the bars to find the owner of the voice. Rows of other cages much her own filled the darkened space, each with its own seal under them.
Understanding of her current predicament came forward. Being a young female in the world alone, the older adults were always keen to warn her of slavers. They'd be willing to sell their own family members if it meant an extra coin to fill their pockets. She had never thought it would be an operation this large!
Her eyes hardened as a familiar face stepped into her line of sight. "Salamander."
No longer donning his purple cloak, his muscular build stood out against the pristine white shirt he wore. A body like that should have been obvious when he grabbed her earlier, but she could not remember what he had felt like. Only the chill of his body and the warm grasp of a saving hand filled in the gaps of that foggy moment.
"My, my, the little street rat sure does look different outside of those ugly clothes." The smirk he gave brought a heat of shame across her cheeks. Sorcerer's Weekly had written plenty of articles on the Fairy Tail guild, but none of them spoke of this side of Salamander. Had everything been lies to give the guild a better reputation? With enough money, any kind of story could be spun. Anyone who had come from her world knew that intimately. Tears prickled at her eyes. "And to find that she's a Celestial Wizard, truly a good day."
"Where am I? What have you done with my keys?" Try as she might to sound strong, a wobble came through.
He came up to the cage with a grin and leered in. "Do you know how much jewel someone of your pedigree could bring in? Not only are you an extremely rich noble's daughter, but you also happen to be a very rare type of wizard with four golden keys. One could retire on the likes of you." A glint of gold caught her attention as he twirled something on his index finger. Her eyes widened at the realization of what it was.
"Give those back!" Joints protested as she jerked against her restraints, rushing to the bars of the cage without a thought except to get her friends back. "They are of no use to you!"
"Hmm, that's true," he said. Catching them mid-swing, he made a show of pondering the bundle of metal. "But they sure could be of use to someone who doesn't know what they are. Maybe a pretty trinket, or a promise to a lover."
Eyes roamed from her keys to trail over her body. As his tongue slipped out to wet his lips, a horrified chill curled her limbs inward the best she could. "What to do, what to do. While I know that virgins tend to be worth much more, having you for myself might be worth more to me in the long run."
Chains rattled as her body shifted and found bars pressing into her back as his face pressed further in her cell. The look he gave her similar to the nobles who attended dances and parties when she had debuted early into society. Looks she could never escape and had been told to endure. Running away had hidden her from that world for a time, and each piece of clothing had been chosen to keep those looks away.
"How—" She found it difficult to swallow. "How did you find out?"
"That you are the lost Heartfilia heir?"
Silently she wished she had not left that diner without Natsu and Happy. Even if they were messy and uncouth, they felt real and had helped her. But reality settled in and her head lowered. If they had left together, they would have been caught up in her problems. Worse, they might have been hurt or killed because of her.
All of it came back to remind her why she traveled alone. Why she had never gone to a guild to become a member, and why she kept moving to try to remain a step ahead of her father. In this cruel world, she really was alone.
"Anything that comes across our path that has a chance of a reward or easy jewel is quickly investigated by my crew and I. We need all the jewel we can to keep our extravagant lifestyles and will do it any way necessary. I am sure you understand."
"He won't pay for me."
"We'll see about that."
With a swipe of his wrist, she noticed he now wore leather bracers with a glowing symbol jutting upwards. When it passed by the lock on the cage, an even larger seal spun in the air and glowed in the darkness. Just before the glow dissipated, the metal bars at the front separated and swung outward.
Disappointment piled on the negative feelings weighing down on her. Stealing those bracers would be near impossible without someone finding out, she realized, and without them, the chances of being able to escape decreased tenfold.
Would her life really end like this? A prisoner to the renowned Salamander, who ended up being a cruel joke on her childish fantasies.
When he stepped in after the flourish of opening the door, panic seized her like a hand that gripped her entire body. A heated chill brought a cold sweat to her brow and her lungs refused to take in anything larger than a hiccup of air. The cage in its entirety was large enough to keep her from the front bars, but still felt cramped. With his larger body encroaching on what little space she had, everything grew tight and too close.
Count! Her eyes squeezed shut. Count!
One…Nearly four years had passed since an attack like this had happened to her. The full sense of claustrophobia closing in around her.
Two…Two hot air taking away her breath even as she hyperventilated.
Three…Voices had called for her. Doors opened and closed.
Four…A calm voice broke through it all and her body turned to stone at the anger hidden behind it. Those cold eyes, the unyielding commands…
Fingers pressed into the swollen skin of her cheeks. She flinched back, and the fingers dug deeper until she found herself forced to stare up into black irises. Her captor continued on, unhindered or not knowing of the panic she felt.
"What you don't seem to understand, my sweet thing, is that your family is a bit strange compared to the other nobles," he began explaining, turning her face to look her over better. "By royal decree, the family name of Heartfilia passes down through the women. Men in your family hold no real power."
"L-let me go!" Lashing out a knee, she aimed straight forward to hit that pinnacle point between male legs like Capricorn had taught her. Fingers snapped and something gripped her leg and moved it to the side against her will. His arm hooked under her leg and hefted it upward, throwing her off balance.
Stepping inwards, he pressed their bodies close, and to her horror, he adjusted her leg to give him better access.
"Don't—!"
"Calm down," his voice lowered to a purr above her. A finger tapped against her cheek and a rush of heat flooded through her. The fear and shame ebbed away with each heavy beat of her heart. Even the panic from before seemed to be replaced by the heaviness of the heat.
Maybe he wasn't so bad, her thoughts flitted about in a fog-like matter that settled over her mind—a pink fog.
"That's right," he cooed softly. A hand snaked around the back of her neck. Weight shifted between them, the chains above clanked, and steel bars bit into her back. "Just relax and enjoy."
Cool metal pressed against her neck. Different from the bars of the cell at her back. It became the only thing she could focus on through the haze. Metal that attached to hands, that encircled it…a name existed for that, she knew. A simple name.
There had been a time when she had held her mama's hand. Stars shined brightly through the grand windows, a fire roared under the mantel, and they cuddled together on the couch. Between them, a book lay forgotten in lieu of tiny hands pressing against the larger palm.
A pink fog crept around the edges of the memory and made it fuzzy. All except those slender fingers. Around one of the fingers, a ring nestled at the bottom and sparkled of gold and diamonds.
"It's my wedding ring," a light voice answered an unheard question. "To prove how much your papa and I love each other."
Her mother had been buried wearing that ring.
A ring…
The metal pressing into her neck.
A ring…!
The encompassing heat that had filled her extinguished like a bucket of water over a fire. Blinking the haze from her vision, she nearly recoiled at the sight of his face—eyes closed and lips puckered—fast approaching her. If this had been a different scenario, she might have found the scrunched-up features of his face hilarious.
Instead, unbridled rage filled her with a different kind of heat.
Snarling, she pushed herself up to meet him, but instead of latching onto his lips, her teeth sunk into the whole of his nose with vengeance.
Blood gushed over her tongue and splashed across her face. Screams of pain filled her ears as the warm liquid dripped from her chin and over her breasts. Hands pressed against her, his head tried to yank away. Determination pushed through the queasiness of the coppery stench and she bit down harder, feeling the crunch between her teeth.
Fists beat down upon her. First, only two, yanking on her hair and slamming into her gut, but soon more joined. Fingers tried to pry her jaws open. Hands wrapped around her throat, arms around her waist. Chains rattled above and manacles grew loose as a wetness accompanied the biting pain of the metal slicing into her skin.
Like a rabid animal, she clamped down harder. Endured the blows and the lack of air. It was all she could do…It was all she could do!
Shearing pain of electricity struck her side and overloaded her nerves. A wretched scream filled her ears and the feeling of the flesh her teeth had sunk into disappeared.
Breathing became a struggle and more blows rained down on her adding to the pain. Jolts of electricity still circling inside made limbs twitch and spasm. Everything kept her from taking in a gasping breath to relieve the burning in her lungs. Just one gulp. One gasp!
"Enough!"
Hands released her. She fell forward, held up only by the chains, and choked at the sudden jolt of pain through her sockets. Her knees hung in the air, not able to reach the floor anymore with the amount of chains they reduced her to during the beating. The pull of her body weight constricted her lungs. Black spots danced in her vision.
Breathe.
A ragged gasp brought in some relief, slipping in past the line of saliva and blood that hung from her lips and dripped down her chin. Pride told her to look up, to stare at her captors in the eyes and show them she had not broken. That she would never break.
Self-preservation and logic tackled those desires. Getting injured further would only hinder her, not give an advantage. If she were to die now, her keys would be sold and her spirits—her friends—would be given to new owners. That was something she could never allow to happen.
Keeping her head tucked, she focused solely on breathing, to take in as much air as possible as deeply as she could and then slowly letting it out through her nose. Each breath accompanied with a count of numbers, and each exhale a countdown.
The door to her cage slammed shut, sealed again by magic, and once more she was left alone. Darkness swelled her, leaving her to the pain and mental torments of her predicament. Any thoughts of escape ended prematurely until she mustered enough energy to get to her feet again.
There had to be a way out, she knew that, but how?
Wincing, she glanced at the manacles around her wrists. If she were to escape, the first step would be to free herself from the chains. Unfortunately, she knew that would be the easiest part of the whole endeavor. The cage would be a challenge, especially with the magical seal that held it shut.
Once out of the cage, there would be another bundle of hurdles to face, and finding her keys dressed only in her undergarments would be less than ideal. She knew what these men would be willing to do, what they would do.
Desperation welled up inside her.
After so many years of hiding and staying out of the public eye, she still ended up in shackles and used. Not by her own father, but still due to money and greed. None of that would bother her if she knew that there would only be two endings to all of this. Her captors would kill her once the money dried up, or they would release her back to him only to be placed in another cage.
Pursing her lips together, she uncurled her fists and straightened out each of her fingers. "To hell with all of them."
A/N - Om nom nom nom! Lucy go CHOMP!
This came out of nowhere for me, so when I wrote it, I was like, "Hell yeah, baby!" And then it became a meme in the discord server I am in. Hope you all enjoyed it!
